


When A Man Loves A Woman

by CautiousOptimism



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 11:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3379328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CautiousOptimism/pseuds/CautiousOptimism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most importantly Will was teaching him the one thing his mother had always instilled in him: how to treat a woman (because that’s the one thing that John McAvoy could never teach him; how a man should behave when he loves a woman).</p>
            </blockquote>





	When A Man Loves A Woman

**Author's Note:**

> The response to my previous fic was amazing! Thank you all so much! This is a short little something that came to me in the middle of all the Valentines day madness. And I know all I've been posting are fluffy fics, but the angsty ones will be coming soon, I promise! As for now though, this one is a few days late, but hey...enjoy.

He remembers their first Valentine’s Day as a family. Their son had barely even been a month old and they were exhausted. His wife had completely forgotten the occasion and was surprised to find him sliding a blue Tiffany & Co. box towards her on the coffee table while she gave their son his breakfast. MacKenzie had felt guilty about forgetting the day but he had hushed her saying that their son was the best gift he had ever received

Now his son was three years old and fully caught up in the Valentine’s Day spirit. They had made cards and everything the previous day at pre-k and told to give the cards to their Valentines. Benjamin had decided that his mommy was his Valentine and asked his daddy if they could do something special for her.

“Like this?” Ben asked holding half a cup of milk over a mixing bowl and looking up at his father who was hovering over him.

“Yeah, that’s perfect buddy” Will says running a hand through his sons blond hair and directing him to pour the milk into the pancake mix. Will had proposed that they cook Mac breakfast as Ben’s special surprise for her on Valentine’s Day, so the McAvoy boys had woken up early to prepare her favourite blueberry pancakes.

Ben was currently sitting on the marble counter in the kitchen with his feet tucked up underneath him; in his footed Spiderman pjs and his little face peering over into the mixing bowl.

“Can I mix it, pleeease?” the little boy begs after he dumps the milk in the bowl. Will agrees to his plea and passes him the whisk. Cooking with Benjamin is usually a messy affair (that’s why both father and son are in matching red aprons that cover them from the chest downwards) and he watches as the flour starts flying from the bowl at his kids unsteady circular whisking motions.

Will chuckles as Ben’s little tongue sticks out in concentration as he focuses all his energy on keeping the mix in the bowl. It’s the same look MacKenzie gets when she’s in deep concentration. Will reaches out a hand to steady the mixing bowl and takes a minute to marvel at how different his and Ben’s upbringings are. For one thing, Will’s father would have never let him cook and wear an apron while doing it, let alone join him in the cooking.  Those things were considered girly and not for boys.

Will remembers his father being angry whenever he helped his mother around the house, with the cooking or even when his mom would hug or kiss him. Those things would turn him into a sissy, his dad would say (that’s why he was only able to take tap lessons when his father did one of his stints in prison). When Will would cry at his father’s beatings, his father would tell him that boys didn’t cry. So Will learned to hold back the tears, because if he did cry it would only make his dad hit harder. But his son had a whole different experience. Will openly showered him with love and affection, not being able to go a day without Ben’s sloppy kisses or tight hugs. And he loved to watch him and Mac together (hugging, laughing, giving each other Eskimo kisses). He and Ben would be regularly found in the kitchen making dinner or breakfast. He never wanted Ben to feel like he did growing up so Will was teaching him everything his mother had taught him; that it was okay to cry, to want to take tap lessons, to help your mom around the house. Most importantly Will was teaching him the one thing his mother had always instilled in him: how to treat a woman (because that’s the one thing that John McAvoy could never teach him; how a man should behave when he loves a woman).

“Now what, daddy?” Ben asks with his bright eyes looking at his daddy expectantly when he decides that he is done with the mixing. Will has to just laugh at his three years old attention span because the mixture is still lumpy.

Will picks up the bowl and whisks the mixture at a faster pace to get the correct consistency. “Well now we add the special ingredient” Will says with raised eyebrows.

“Blueberries!” Benjamin exclaims loudly, then clamps his hand over his mouth when he realises that he might have been too loud and he could have woken up his mommy. “Blueberries” he says again in a more hushed tone of voice.

“That’s right, kiddo. Then we’ll be ready to start cooking”. Will finishes whisking and then allows Ben to add in the blueberries. “Okay now we can start cooking”.

Will allows Ben to move near him as he scoops the batter into the hot pan but reminds the little boy not to get too close to the hot stove (MacKenzie always worries when Will lets Ben sit on the counter while he cooks but Will thinks its okay as long as they are watching him). It doesn’t take too long for them to whip up the pancakes with Ben oohing when his dad flips the pancakes over and dropping more blackberries in when he thinks Will isn’t looking.

 When they finally finish Ben declares that he is going to go wake his mummy up and lifts his arms up for Will to take him off the counter. Will groans when he lifts Ben off the counter top as his elbow pops and reminds him of how old he is.

As soon as Ben’s feet touch the ground he goes to scurry off but Will catches him around the waist. “Whoa there, let me clean you up a bit” he says as he bends down and tries his best to wipe off the flour that had somehow gotten in his hair and on his face. He takes the apron off the little boy too, because it was covered in pancake batter.

“Daddyyyy” Ben whines when he feels like his father is taking too long.

“Okay, okay” Will says backing away and letting the boy scamper off. Will follows him as he exits the kitchen to watch him walk up the stairs and make sure he gets up okay on his own ( and ensure that he’s holding the banister like him and Mac always remind him).  Will then returns to the kitchen and goes about setting up the table for breakfast while he waits for his family. He sets out a special seat for MacKenzie with the card Ben made resting in front of her plate.

A few minutes later he hears Ben animatedly telling Mac to close her eyes before they get into the kitchen. Ben leads his mother right to the table and to her seat.

“You can open your eyes now, mummy” he smiles up at her while holding tightly to the hand that wasn’t being used to cover her eyes.

MacKenzie opens her eyes and takes in the scene in front of her. “Aww, did you do all of this for me?”

Ben nods excitedly “Daddy helped too” Mac looks over at Will and they share an amused smile. Ben then directs her to sit down and he clumsily pulls his mother’s chair out just like how his daddy taught him. “And I made you a card too!”

MacKenzie sits and reaches for the handmade card in front of her that’s decorated with stick figures and hearts. Mackenzie reads it over then places her hand over her heart at how sweet it is. “Aw, baby” she says taking him into her arms and wrapping him in her embrace “It’s beautiful, thank you Benji. I love it”

“Happy Valentimes day, mummy” Ben manages while hugging her back with all his might (and Will just has to smile at how adorable it is that he can’t say Valentines correctly) “Daddy and I also made your favourite pancakes”

Ben slides into his seat next to Mac as Will brings the pancakes over and lets Mac exclaim at how delicious they look. When Ben is settled with his food and happily munching away (his fingers already sticky with syrup) MacKenzie pulls Will in for a passionate kiss from where he sits adjacent to her.

“Thank you for this, this is lovely”

Will shakes his head. “It was all you son’s idea, I was just a helper. My surprises will be coming later” he winks as he pulls away but Mac brings him in for one more kiss.

“Hey!” Ben protests breaking his parents apart “no kissing! Mummy is my Valemtime!”

Will and Mac stifle their laughs behind their hands. Mac moves away from her husband and proceeds to tickle and kiss her son while telling him he has to share. “We don’t want daddy to be all alone on Valentine’s Day now do we?” she asks.

“I ‘pose not” Ben concedes while still laughing at his mom’s antics. And Will just has to take a moment, because there was a time when he didn’t think that he would ever be here (happy, with a family) and especially not with MacKenzie but he was. They had formed a wonderful, perfect, unbreakable bond when they had made Ben. And now he had someone to teach what his mother taught him about what it looks like when a man loves a woman.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Again I must say that any feedback is very welcome, good or bad. It will only help me become a better writer!


End file.
